


Trust

by RyuuShinobi



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, substitute your own zer0 identity headcanon, there's May0 if you want it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 20:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4890436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyuuShinobi/pseuds/RyuuShinobi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zer0 gets hurt during a typical Hyperion raid. Maya is nervous, and Axton takes charge. Krieg yells. All in a day's work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> I torture characters when I feel down in the dumps, and there's not enough hurt/comfort to go around. More hurt, less comfort though >:)

Zer0's breath hitched with each inhale. Body shuddered with each exhale. He couldn't move, not in his condition, where it felt like his throat and chest were torn open, exposed, for the world to see. The world in question, was fading, going dark. Black and white. Bleeding out was a slow process, full of agonizing pain as his body attempted to continue to work, sending blood running through torn arteries, trying to pull oxygen into shredded lungs.

The assassin coughed, and regretted it as the action caused his chest to tighten. The trickle of blood became a sluggish river down his sticky leather-clad chest. His ears rang. Gunshots continued to sound, but they were distant, despite the loader blocking his view moments prior.

Somebody was screaming his name. It was muffled and dull among the gunfire, but it was there. His chest felt warm, his toes and fingers, cold.

"Zer0! Oh no..."

Blue haired lady in his face. Zer0 smiled. They found him, this was good. He closed his eyes. His head started to drop forward, but something caught it, pressing it back and holding it up.

"Axton! Salvador!"

The voice came from right in front of him, yet not at all.

"This'll sting, but it’s just me. We've got you. You'll be fine, just hang in there. Don't fall asleep on me, Zer0."

He coughed his acknowledgement this time, lighter. Weaker. She was right, there was a sting, against his thigh, and liquid fire was burning his insides, forcing him to jerk uncomfortably. The sound of bullets tapered out. There was another hand on him now, his shoulder, holding him steady.

"Easy big guy. It's me, Axton." The heavy hand squeezed. "Maya, let me handle this. I've got field training."

Shuffling of feet. Zer0 allowed himself to open his eyes. Whatever the injection was, it steadied his breathing, though every inhale still felt like blades stabbing his chest. Which, he noticed, was exposed to the elements. The sturdy fabric of his suit was ruined, barely holding together, on top of a bloody mess of mangled flesh, muscle, and something that looked like torn metal. He groaned. Looking away, he closed his eyes and let his head bang against the steel wall behind him. Bad idea, as that caused his head to pound and the world to spin.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad. Hang tight." Axton's hands pressed up against Zer0's narrow chest, to each side, nestled carefully along his rib cage. Gently, they moved up and down along his torso, apply pressure at regular intervals. There was a twitch. And another one. One more, and Zer0 huffed, trying to shrug away from the commando. "Okay, okay, that's all." Axton removed his hands. Rib fractures, for sure, if not broken. He hoped not broken. He turned to his backpack.

Zer0 grumbled in response, attempting to draw his arms around himself, but someone stopped him. Fine. He shifted his legs, bending his knees, but pain in his ankle forced a hiss out of his mouth, and he let his legs collapse again. His whole leg was throbbing. His eyes shot open to glare at the offending limb.

Now he was sufficiently pissed off.

"Stop moving! I know you want to get moving right away, but you'll only make the situation worse, so behave. And don't you dare fall asleep just yet," Maya scolded, leaving his shoulder to come into Zer0's tunnel vision. Her face was blurry though, coming in and out of focus despite Zer0's best efforts to steady his gaze.

She glared at him, face wrought with concern and annoyance. Moving to the assassin's out-stretched leg, Maya frowned, her face softening, and lay a hand over his leg. "Ankle's pretty bad. Sprained.”

Axton nodded, not looking up from rummaging in his backpack. "I'll try and wrap it enough for the journey back to Sanctuary, but we should get this metal shard out of his chest first. Thank whatever god you worship for rib cages, right? I'll fix you up in a jiffy, though!" He laughed, then sighed when no one else laughed with him. Right. From his supplies, Axton brought out medical bandages. "So, this'll definitely hurt, seeing as I don't have painkillers, sorry about that, but I'll take it slow as long as you try not to move. Deal?"

The assassin glared at him, then gave way to nodding as his eyes unfocused yet again. "Deal," Zer0 murmured, his voice barely audible. There was a hand on his shoulder, and Zer0 noticed Maya had moved away from his leg. Out of his vision again. Not that it made a difference now.

"Sal? Could you brace his other shoulder? I want you two to do your best to hold him down, just in case."

Well this wasn't going to be good. The grip from the hand on his shoulder was firm and strong, belonging to the gunzerker, and it contrasted harshly with Maya's soft and gentle grip. Zer0 saw Axton nod, and then the commando was closer to him. He had medical tape wrapped around his hands now, and placed one hand on the number's chest. Zer0's breath stopped for a moment, as a tingle of pain spread from where Axton's hand was irritating the raw, exposed flesh.

"Sorry big guy." Axton smiled in sympathy. "Hold on for now, alright? We'll get you bandaged up and back in Sanctuary in no time."

Zer0 forced himself to exhale, and let his head droop to watch Axton before him. The hand on his chest pressed firmer, while the other wrapped itself around the twisted metal embedded in his chest.

Axton tugged on the metal. Didn't budge, of course, leaving him to brace himself and apply more pressure.

The number's eyes darted away from the scene, and he grimaced. The pain was a dull pulsing with each heartbeat, but the second Axton used more force, it rocketed up to unbearable levels. He willed himself not to jerk away, and the hands on his shoulders tightened down. The bloodstained yellow and white sheet of metal was slipping out of his chest, but not nearly fast enough. He swallowed, his tongue thick in his mouth. He did his best to suppress a damn whimper, to no avail. There was a hand on his forearm though, feeling freezing cold to the touch, but he couldn't pull away.

"Almost got it."

The assassin screwed his eyes shut. He shuddered, back arching against the pillar behind him, and when the jagged metal bit into his flesh anew, he could have sworn a lightning bolt struck him down. The edges tore open the corners of his wounds. Zer0 got a microsecond's worth of thrashing in before the hands on his body held him in place once again.

"Zer0!" Maya said this time, concern and annoyance in her voice.

Using the temporary stunned stillness of Zer0, and wasting no more time, Axton yanked out the last inch the metal. He tossed it aside with a look of disgust. "We’re good!"

He unwrapped hands as fast as he could, and motioned for Salvador and Maya to push Zer0 forward towards him. "Hold him here, quickly, quickly." Zer0 shuddered violently, unnervingly limp. Axton only grabbed the bandages with renewed speed, feeling a sense of urgency creeping up on him. He pulled at the edge, and started to wrap the tape around Zer0's torso. Efficiently, as if he had been doing it his whole life. Probably had. The bandages turned pink within seconds of applying them, but Axton kept going, keeping the dressings tight to slow the bleeding.

Somewhere along the line, the assassin had passed out. Axton smiled ruefully upon realizing this as he sat back to inspect his handiwork. He spared no expense in liberally covering the number in bandages, mindful of his wound, and taking care to wrap a few around his scratched neck. This guy was lucky.

He turned his attention to the sprained ankle behind him. "Well, this will be easier without him awake to fight us every step of the way.” Axton said, pulling another set of bandages out of his bag. "Maybe we should have started with his leg." He moved to sit at the foot of Zer0’s gangly limb, and carefully keeping his hands on the number’s calf, turned his leg so he could properly bandage the sprain.

“Sal? Where are Krieg and Gaige?”

The gunzerker pointed behind Axton. “Been fighting bandits to kill time.”

Axton didn’t look over his shoulder, only nodding. “Could you call them back here? I’d appreciate it if Krieg would carry him.”

“Amigos! Time to come back! Apúrate!” Salvador hollered into the ECHO device.

Double checking the wrappings around the assassin’s ankle, Axton found that they were decent enough, and tight, to keep the ankle from moving. He set down Zer0’s leg, and sat back with a sigh.

“Is… Is he going to be okay?” came Gaige’s oddly quiet, nervous voice.

Axton leaned back on his hands, looking up at the teen. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. We only need to get to a fast travel, and make it back to Sanctuary so Zed can take a look at him.”

The mecromancer’s arms drew closer around herself. “Yeah…” she said, though the word wobbled in her throat.

There was a moment’s pause between the gathered vault hunters as they each took turns looking down at the bandaged form of the assassin. Maya had not moved from where she was holding his arm by his side. Axton smiled inwardly. At least he would have company.

“Krieg,” he finally said, tearing his eyes away to address the psycho. The man in question turned a glaring, narrowed eye on him. “Can you carry him for us?” When Krieg nodded, and knelt before the assassin, Axton stood. He cleared his throat, and addressed the rest of the group. “The fast travel isn’t too far off, but just in case, we’ll travel in a circular formation. Krieg will be in the center. I’ll take point. Maya and Gaige, I want you as side support. Salvador will bring up our rear. If anyone gets into trouble that they can’t handle, just shout, and I’ll toss down a turret for cover.”

He turned to the psycho directly. “Krieg, I want you to be careful. Don’t irritate the wound more than you have to. If you need to run, you run. If you need to fight, permission is granted to put Zer0 down, but only in the protective field of my sabre turret. Meaning, stick close to me if something happens.”

“I will follow the portable gun!” Krieg growled in affirmation, gently jostling the slender form of the assassin. Zer0 was almost nothing in his arms, and the psycho could almost forget that he was carrying him like an infant. There was a hand on his bicep, and Krieg looked down at the worried expression of Maya. “Shhhhhh, sleeeeeeeping,” he crooned in the softest voice he could muster.

The siren laughed, her serious face finally breaking into a smile. “You’re right. He should get some rest on the way.”

“All right,” Axton said, commanding their attention once more. “If we’re geared and ready to go, then let’s get out of this hellhole, before Hyperion wonders why one of their supply outposts stopped responding to their ECHOs.” Each of the vault hunters nodded in turn, checking weapons and shields once more for problems, before they fell into a loose formation centered around Krieg, and Axton quickly led them out of the Hyperion building.

—x—

Having his door literally kicked open by an angry, impatient vault hunter was the last thing Zed expected to see that night, but as it so happened, Axton’s boot collided with the metal door and it swung open on its squeaky hinges, slamming against the wall with a very loud groan.

“Doc! We’ve got a situation here!” Axton proclaimed as he stepped into the small building and to the side, to allow Krieg though.

“Settle down, settle down! Now, what’s with all the ruckus?” Zed wiped his hands on his coat, and pulled on a fresh pair of gloves. “Over here, will you?” he motioned to the table that he was busy clearing indeterminable body parts off of.

Krieg didn’t need to be told twice. He followed Zed to the table, the scrawny, limp body of Zer0 still held tightly in his arms, looking all-too-tiny against the well-muscled psycho. However, the assassin was awake, judging by the way he turned his head to look at his surroundings.

Though no one could see, there was a slight worry in Zer0’s face as Krieg started to set him down. His waking world consisted of the psycho’s bulky arms for the better part of an hour, since Krieg had not let him move more beyond turning his head. While he wasn’t dizzy and blurry-eyed from blood loss anymore, the dull throb in his chest made even the slightest movement painful. Still, Krieg was gentle, and soon those bare arms were away, exposing Zer0 for just how fragile he looked.

Zed’s place fit the five other vault hunters, easily, but not as they all tried to crowd around the same, limited table. “All of ya, git out! ‘Cept you, commando,” the doctor pointed to the door. “I can’t work with so many of you around. If you want my help, get out of the way!”

Axton couldn’t agree more, so he stepped back and watched the rest of the vault hunters file back out of the building. But…

“Maya—” The siren turned around, a question on her lips. “You should stay too. Close the door, though.”

“Ah… Right. Thank you, Axton,” Maya said, her voice hardly above a whisper, as she shut the door behind Krieg, and returned to the probably-not-pristine table.

“Now…” Zed started, pulling his mask up, “What do we have here?”

The assassin sucked in a shallow breath and barely turned his head away from where he was staring at the ceiling. His faceplate flickered to life with a string of “...” that disappeared almost as quick as it came. At once, there was a warm, tattooed hand on his. He probably smiled.

“It was a routine Hyperion raid, Doc. Loaders, engineers, surveyors, the usual. Somehow, we split up, and lost sight of each other. We’re… Not too sure what happened to Zer0 here, but everyone else was relatively okay. Gaige mentioned seeing an EXP Loader tracking someone, but she didn’t know who it was.” Axton shrugged, looking away from the doctor to gesture to the pink-ish bandages around Zer0’s chest. “Maya found him against a wall, with a huge metal bit in his chest, hence the med tape.”

Zer0’s head turned at the mention of the loader. “EXP…” he wheezed, when Axton paused.

“Guess that settles it. Gaige must've seen the loader tracking Zer0. I’m guessing that resulting explosion is what tore him up and gave him the nasty souvenir.” Axton watched as Zer0’s head dipped at this comment. “Another point to me. But, Doc, I could only do so much…”

Bobbing his head in understanding, Zed grabbed a scalpel. “Let’s take a look here, then.” Hooking a finger under the edge of the bandages, mindful of Zer0’s body, the doctor cut the bottom tape. He motioned for the assassin to sit up, which he accomplished with the help of the commando and the siren, and Zed swiftly unwrapped the rest of the medical tape, letting it fall to the floor under the table.

Zed whistled in sympathy when the number’s chest was exposed. “Now that is one nasty wound,” he commented, his accent coming out in full effect. He almost didn’t want to touch it, his hands hovering in the air before him.

The number leaned back on a hand, and looked down at himself. It was pretty nasty. The kevlar-like leather fabric of his chest armor was ruined, that’s for sure. He resisted the urge to pick at it. Beneath the stripped fabric, the assassin’s mangled chest was visible for everyone in the room to see. It was arguably better-looking than before, but still an ugly would with the way the long, jagged gashes had begun to scab over. A pair of hands moved into view, one on Zer0’s shoulder, the other gingerly pressing on his shoulder. He turned his head, looking at the doctor, but Zer0 did as he was silently asked: laid back down on the medical table.

“I hope you’ve got another one of them suit things, because I can’t sew that up!” Zed laughed, and quickly quieted when no one else reacted. “Ahem. Yeah, I can help ya.” He pulled a sterile tray closer to himself. “Miss, if you could get a couple of damp towels, that would be lovely.”

Maya looked almost reluctant to move, but after a moment, she dipped her head in a quick nod, and left the table’s side.

Meanwhile, Zed had moved to a storage compartment and retrieved a small syringe.

"Painkillers and anesthetic," Zed explained, holding up the syringe of some strange, blue-tinted liquid. "Mainly local but it'll give you a nice tingle for a little bit afterwards. Good stuff." Maya had returned with a damp cloth, and the doctor motioned for her to set it aside on the tray. The second that was done, the siren was back at the number's side, a hand milling around his arm.

Zed fit the needle comfortably between his fingers and looked down at the assassin laying on his table. "Sleep well!" he said in goodbye, as he pressed the syringe into the torn flesh of Zer0's chest.

The injection hurt, like a brief pinch, then there was tingling numbness around the spot. It spread across his chest, deep into his torso, and tapered off to his extremities. He let out a soft, almost blissful sigh. The view before him blurred, turned dark, and Zer0 drifted off into a state of semi-consciousness.

To kill time for the anesthetic to work, Zed replaced the syringe with the damp cloth and started cleaning the dried blood caked onto the wound. The assassin shifted the moment the cool fabric touched his skin. Zed ignored it. The previously gray cloth was turning red, and the deeper cuts were opening once again. "This looks worse than it is," Zed commented, though it was mostly to Axton as he was convinced the assassin had fallen asleep.

The commando's shoulders slumped as he sighed in relief. "Wonderful. Thanks, Doc." He stood for a moment longer, watching the doctor clean the wound, but looked towards the door when Zed picked up a needle and surgical thread. "I'll report back to Lilith. Maya, you'll stick around, right?" The siren nodded, not taking her eyes off of Zer0. "Good. I'll send Krieg here to help you move him when the Doc's finished." He left as Zed bent closer, stitching up the worst of the injury.

—x—

Zer0 had nodded off briefly, but managed to stay conscious for majority of the procedure. He attempted to ignore the hands on his chest, that were too close for majority of his comfort, despite realizing that they were there for a reason. There was no sensation along his chest, other than the tingle of the numbing solution and the occasional pressure of fingers or needle against his skin. He didn't risk a look down. One of the hands pat his chest, and Zed's face came into view above him.

"Hey, pay attention here," said a distorted voice that seemed to come from behind him. Zer0 did his best to listen, but he couldn't help noticing the way the voice fluctuated. It rocked back and forth in space, going higher then lower, and seeming to taper off to silence before swelling back. He blinked, his head slowly tilting to the side. The voice mentioned movement. Yes, he could move. He continued to tilt his head further. And his fingers, he could move those, he thought as he dully flexed the digits of one hand. The fingers prickled, and he looked away from the doctor's face above him. Why did his fingers tingle? Zer0 wondered, tilting his head even more, trying to focus as everything went blurry, then pitch black.

—x—

Zed pulled down his surgical mask, and gave the sleeping assassin a poke in the bicep. "I don't think he caught any of that."

"No," Maya agreed. "I got it all, though. I'll explain it later."

"Just be careful when you move him. Don't rip out those stitches before they're ready to come out." Zed stepped back from the table, looking towards Krieg.

The psycho stepped closer, his head tilted as he looked from Zed to Maya and back again. The doctor motioned with a hand. A slight nod, and Krieg leaned forward, hooking his arms under the assassin's back and knees. Zer0 was easily cradled in Krieg's arms once more, as light as a bundle of tattered blankets.

"Thanks, Doctor Zed." Maya reached into her backpack, taking out a few thousand in cash.

Zed raised a hand to stop her. "No need. You've done enough for me in the past. Besides, Mr. Ninja guy should be the one to pay." He pulled the mask up again. "Have him come by later for the bill."

She let out a small laugh. "If you say so. I’ll pass the message along. Let's go, Krieg."

—x—

There was a thick, soft, and smelling vaguely of bullymongs, "something" covering Zer0 when he awoke. He moved, attempting to sit up, but another item accompanied the first, this one heavy, sharp, and whirring in a way the assassin was convinced was unsafe. He settled for not moving. On top of the old blanket covering him from chest to knees, rested a spinning buzz axe. A hand held the axe in place, and Zer0 followed the hand up the attached arm to where Krieg was sitting on the floor beside him.

“NO MOVING," the psycho growled. He waited a moment, and when Zer0 elected to keep still, Krieg removed his axe. He stood, now towering over where the assassin was laying on one of the old couches in the Raider HQ. “PRETTY LADY,” Krieg hollered, “THE NUMBER IS AWAKE.”

From across the room, Zer0 could see Lilith looking up from the table, and glaring at Krieg. A bright red exclamation mark popped up in front of the assassin’s face. “I think I am fine. / Krieg, let’s not dis—” The whoosh of the buzz axe coming to a sudden stop in front of his face had the rest of the haiku all but leave Zer0’s head.

“Shhh…” The axe twitched, inching closer to the assassin’s faceplate.

The sound of feet pounding up the stairs gave way to Maya skidding into view in the doorframe. "Zer0!" she panted, and was at his side in seconds, while Krieg removed his axe once more and stepped back. "How are you doing? No pain anywhere? You didn't try to get up, did you?"

Zer0 shook his head to each question, though he stopped mid-shake at the last one. There was a shuffle of boots behind Maya, and it was clear Krieg thought otherwise of what Zer0 was attempting to do.

"Okay. I'm going to assume you didn't catch anything of what Zed said before we left." Maya ignored the diagonal red lines before the assassin's helmet. "He fixed you up. You've got stitches in place, so be careful when you move so you don't rip them out. They should dissolve in a few days but until then..." The siren tilted her head, making a point of staring at Zer0 from behind her bangs. "Don't do anything reckless. And, as long as you feel up to it, you can move around, but don't push yourself." She crossed her arms, leaning back on one leg as if daring him to challenge what she said. "Did you get all that?"

"Yes, I understood / everything you have told me. / May I get up now?" He began to remove the blanket, but Krieg's grip tightened on his axe, forcing Zer0 to stay still once more. "This is troublesome. / This psycho is a bit too / protective of me."

"With good reason. I told him to watch you. He attacks anything that suddenly moves, so..." Maya smiled. "He's not just good for absorbing bullets, you know."

Zer0 would have rolled his eyes. Of course he knew that.

"Krieg, thanks for your help," the siren said, "Would you get Axton for me? I'm sure he wants to know how Zer0's doing."

The psycho’s shoulders relaxed, and his axe fell to his side. It bounced against the ground with a clang that made Zer0 twitch in a half-jump, half-shake kind of way.

“Listen to the lady, find the meat boy, FIND HIM,” Krieg muttered as he left the room.

They both watched him leave, and after a moment, Maya returned her gaze to Zer0. “So, up you go, then.” She grabbed the blanket, pulling it off as Zer0 slowly swung his long legs off the couch and planted them on the floor. Maya frowned. “That looks pretty bad, even if Zed did his best… And your suit is ruined.” She gestured to the tattered edges of his leather chest piece.

“It tingles a bit,” he admitted, "This is easily replaced, / so don't worry much." He looked down. Lifting his arms and rotating his shoulders to test the movement of upper torso, Zer0 concluded that he was relatively unimpaired from majority of his work. Annoyingly, there was a slight tug across his chest every time he brought his shoulder blades together, but he still had a large movement pool at his disposal.

The doctor had done a good job though, for someone without a medical license. One could question that little detail, but Zed had proven himself to be a worthy and reliable ally many times over, even if his methods were questionable. Zer0 raised a gloved hand, pressing a fingertip to the largest line of stitches in a diagonal across his chest. He sucked in a breath, and yanked his hand away. That stung. That wasn’t a light tingle from left over endorphins. It was actually sore.

“Yeah…” Maya commented, a hand to her mouth to stop her laughter. “Maybe that’s not such a good idea.”

“No kidding.”

Definitely going to take it easy for the next couple of days. After he replaced his torn suit, of course.

A knock on the wall had both Zer0 and Maya looking up to find Axton in the doorway. “Hey. How ya doin’?” He stepped closer, crouching down in front of where Zer0 was sitting on the sofa. “You’re certainly looking better,” the commando chuckled, patting Zer0’s knee. “Gave us all a scare when we found you, but you’re tough, huh big guy?”

“It’ll take more than a / Hyperion moonshot to / take down assassins.”

Axton nodded. "But of course!" Standing once more, the commando clasped his hands behind his back. "Lilith knows what happened," he said, looking into the missions briefing room to give the red-haired siren a little wave. "So she, Mordecai, and Brick won't be sending you on any missions, but just in case, I forbid you from taking missions, unless they meet certain requirements." A finger was raised into the air before Zer0's helmet, and Axton continued to raise fingers as he laid out the rules. "First, you must be with at least two other hunters. Second, you must be within someone's line of sight at all times. Third, you are not to overexert yourself. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," Zer0 grumbled, after a moment of silence. Who was this commando to tell him what to do, how to fight, and what jobs he could take? "You worry too much. / I'm capable of watching / my own back, you know."

The hand fell back to Axton's side. He smiled. "I know, but you're all my squad now. The squad I never had. As your sergeant, I've got to look out for you. Sometimes. Well, that'll be all. Glad to see you're doin' better." He gave Zer0 and Maya a wave as he disappeared back downstairs.

Maya's gaze returned to Zer0, though the assassin was no longer sitting, but rather standing and stretching his arms and legs. He favored his un-sprained ankle, the siren noticed, but when he moved around, it was as if the minor injury didn't bother him at all. He'd probably be fine walking on it. "Yeah, I can't imagine you want to spend the next couple of days sitting around in the headquarters," Maya joked.

"No."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Probably kill time. / Do you know where Krieg ran off? / We need to converse." He checked his pack for his weapons, finding his favorite guns and trusty sword tucked away in the pockets. And he would need to replace his suit, of course, but that wasn't urgent.

The siren gave a light shrug. "I assume he grabbed Axton then went off on his o—"

"THE NUMBER CALLS FOR US. THE DAY IS LONG, AND MY AXE IS CRYING FOR YOUR BLOOD," came the screams as Krieg leapt from the roof and barreled his way through Mordecai and Lilith conversing on the balcony.

The siren in particular raised her arm, tattoos glowing brightly, and crushed a chair in a sphere of purple matter. A frustrated growl came from her throat as she tossed the twisted remains of the chair aside and ignored Mordecai's quick 'calm down, Lil' in favor of stomping over to one of the security camera feeds.

Zer0’s faceplate lit up with a question mark, and he received a large shrug from Mordecai in turn.

Despite having been the one that caused the disturbance between the two more experienced vault hunters, Krieg paid absolutely no attention as he skidded to a halt in front of where Zer0 was shaking out his limbs. “I will watch you bleed!” he challenged, waving his buzz axe in front of the assassin’s face.

“K-Krieg!” Maya stammered, raising her arm in preparation to phaselock the psycho.

Zer0 lifted a hand in dismissal, but Maya didn’t budge. “You say what you want, / But we know the real winner / Is gonna be me.” Raising his blue-edged blade, the assassin tapped it against Krieg’s axe in acceptance of the other’s challenge. “A spar for us two, / to kill the time and make sure / I don’t get rusty.” A throat clearing had Zer0 looking back towards Maya.

“I thought Axton, Zed, and I told you to take it easy. You’re going to be out of shape in a matter of hours?” She folded her arms in front of her, finally, but the furrowed brow on her face, along with the way she was standing, told a different story of annoyance and worry.

“Yes,” he said simply, turning his helmet to face her for a moment.

She seemed to wrestle with internal dialogue before giving Zer0 a growl and letting her shoulders fall. “I guess I can’t stop you, nor would I blame you for having to spend your days twiddling your thumbs. Just take it easy, and don’t destroy any rooftops this time.”

“No promises,” Zer0 said with an audible smirk as he reached forward to grasp the blue-haired Siren’s hand.

“Zed says you owe him,” Maya murmured, her voice going quiet as she looked from their hands to the assassin, and back. There was a pause. Zer0 didn’t move, nor did Maya try to pull her hand away. After a moment, she opened her mouth. “I only worry about you. We all do. It’s terrifying, watching something like that happen.”

“Hn… I understand. / Perhaps you worry too much, / but I’ll be careful,” the number reassured, giving Maya’s hand a gentle pat before letting it drop back down to her side.

Maya smiled. “I’ll hold you to that.”

He inclined his head, giving her his word, and pointedly ignoring the twinge of pain in his chest. Krieg was impatient, of course, and was already jumping out of the second floor balcony when Zer0 motion to proceed. While he was a solitary being, there was a slight pillow of warmth that spread through Zer0's torso to his limbs. A tickle of emotion that betrayed just how gladdened he was to know that there were at least five people he could count on to cover his back.


End file.
